The present invention relates to an ignition system for a multiple cylinder internal combustion engine, having a plurality of ignition coils, and a plurality of control circuits, each including a gate turn-off thyristor for controlling the primary current of a respective one of the ignition coils.
In an ignition system incorporating a gate turn-off thyristor, also referred to as gate controlled switch, it has been suggested to employ two signal sources such as signal generating windings, one for supplying a signal for turning on the gate turn-off thyristor (hereinafter referred to as GTO), and the other for supplying a signal for turning off the GTO.
When such concept is applied to an ignition system for a multiple cylinder internal combustion engine having a plurality of ignition coils, the number of the signal sources required is twice as many as the number of the ignition coils. Such construction is unsatisfactory because of the substantial size and high cost of production.